The present invention relates to an agricultural harvesting machine having a control arrangement comprising an optical sensor device for recording image series of a continuous main crop stream, an evaluation device for ascertaining a portion of damaged grain and/or a portion of non-grain in the main crop stream on the basis of an image analysis of the recorded image series and a visualization device for displaying the portion of damaged grain and/or the portion of non-grain.
Agricultural harvesting machines and, in particular, self-propelled harvesting machines, which include combine harvesters and forage harvesters, for example, pick up crop from the field and process this crop using a series of working devices, preferably in a way that maximizes the yield of grain in the grain tank of the harvesting machine. These working devices are controllable, wherein the parameters thereof, in particular, i.e., the operating parameters of the working devices, can be adjusted, and wherein the setting of these parameters and the prevailing basic conditions result in a higher or lower quality of the harvested crop. In order to control the working devices and adjust the parameters thereof, modern harvesting machines regularly comprise control/regulating units, which can be operated by the driver from within the driver's cab. In the case of combine harvesters, these working devices include, for example, the threshing mechanism, which typically contains a concave and a plurality of threshing parts and, disposed downstream of the threshing mechanism in the direction of motion of the crop stream, a cleaning unit having a fan and a plurality of sieves.
Depending on the type of crop to be harvested, e.g. rapeseed, wheat, or barley, and what the prevailing basic conditions are on the field and in the surroundings thereof (for example, moisture, stand height, soil condition, etc.), a different control and parameter setting of the working devices may be required in order to obtain the highest possible quality of crop and, simultaneously, the highest possible yield. Large portions of broken grains and contaminants in the crop, for example, are unwanted.
It is known from the prior art, such as EP 1 763 988 A1, to provide a camera on a harvesting machine to record series of images of the crop stream in the crop conveyance path, which are then analyzed in terms of the quality of the crop that is depicted. The quality is defined primarily by the portion of damaged grain and non-grain. The parameter settings of the working devices, on the basis of which the series of images are created, are compared to one another. This makes it easier to select a suitable parameter setting. The assessment of the quality of the crop stream on the basis of the image series and the subsequent selection of the parameter setting may be implemented automatically or by an operator on the basis of his own comparison.
The disadvantage of this solution is that an image series showing the crop for a certain parameter setting of the working devices does not become available until after a relatively long start-up phase of the harvesting machine and the working devices. The image series is recorded only after the mechanical adjustment of the working devices according to a new parameter setting has been completed and after other start-up processes that can induce a deviation from the quasi-stationary state of the crop stream have subsided. The result thereof is that, first, an evaluable representation is made available to the operator or the corresponding automatic function typically only after a period of several minutes, which can vary, and, therefore, only then can an assessment be made as to whether and which effect a certain parameter setting has on the crop quality. Secondly, local irregularities such as a surface in the crop field that is contaminated locally, although to a particularly great extent, either do not show up at all in the analysis or corrupt the result to such an extent that these local circumstances are assumed to apply for the entire field or are at least partially projected. In both cases it then becomes difficult to identify the actual circumstances.